The subject double select needle tufting machine has utility in the tufting industry and can be used to make bedspreads, towels and the like as well as pile carpets.
Select needle or control needle machines are known. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,376,835 and 3,361,096. Such machines have been used primarily to manufacture bedspreads and terry-like fabrics; however, the use of such machines in the tufting carpet industry is also known. While conventional tufting machines characteristically have a single row of needles, double select needle tufting machines have two sets of needles and tufting can be carried out by patterning as, for example, leaving non-tufted areas as well as tufted areas by not selecting a needle and, also, by supplying different series of needles with different colors so that two-color carpets or bedspreads may be tufted. Needle bar structure for such machines is massive and driving and selecting means for this type of machine is similar to that of most conventional tufting machines.
In addition to the subject disclosure, copending Application Serial Nos. 699,904, 699,906, and 699,905 contain related subject matter.